News About This Theater

Operated by United Artists, then taken over by Regal Entertainment. The Movies at Jefferson Valley is located inside the Jefferson Valley Mall, and became part of the independent Trademark Cinemas chain. It was closed on November 28, 2010.

YORKTOWN – Two months after Regal Entertainment Group closed its eight-screen multiplex, the movies are coming back to the Jefferson Valley Mall.

Mall officials have confirmed an announcement by Trademark Cinemas of Lake Mary, Fla., that the fledgling theater chain will make Jefferson Valley its second location. The news was first reported on Trademark’s Web site, though rumors of the theater’s return have swirled for days.

“I’m glad they’re bringing the movie theater back to the mall,” said Victor “Duff” Tirado of Cortlandt, 26, co-manager of Journeys, a clothing store. “It’s good for the mall, and it brings business in, especially on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays with the kids. Even if they have no intention to shop, they still end up in these stores.”

Mahopac High School junior Gina Schmansky, 16, would see a movie every other weekend before the Jefferson Valley theater closed. The Carmel multiplex is kind of small, Schmansky said, and Cortlandt harder to reach.

For young people who can’t drive and have few other entertainment options, the mall provides a chance to meet friends, shop and grab a bite to eat, in addition to the films, she said.

“I think we should have something to do when we’re at the mall,” Schmansky said. “It keeps kids out of trouble.”

Trademark Cinemas, a discount theater operator that incorporated earlier this year, lists four locations at its Web site, but Jefferson Valley and two others in Georgia are listed as opening this fall. Efforts to reach the company were unsuccessful.

In August, Regal Entertainment Group, which also operates the United Artist Cortlandt Stadium a few miles away, closed the United Artists multiplex that operated at the mall for 20 years, leaving Yorktown with no big-screen entertainment for the first time in decades. Regal called it “an underperforming theater” at the time.

“It has definitely affected the amount of traffic that comes into the mall, particularly on Friday and Saturday nights,” said Lisa Quist of Montrose, who owns the Valley Deli at the mall.

Quist said she and other tenants understood why the theater closed. Regal’s lease was up, and it made little sense to operate two locations so close to each other. But rumors that a furniture store would replace it put many on edge, she said.

“We all wanted to know what was going in its place,” said Quist. “We were all very concerned, but I do feel the mall turned it around very quickly.”

Yorktown Councilman Nicholas Bianco, who lives nearby, said he learned of the theater plans from a former employee who has applied for a job with the new operator.

Bianco said he’d heard that the new theater would open in two weeks and offer discount tickets.

“If it’s true, I think it’s a great thing that we get a moviehouse back in town,” Bianco said.

Trademark’s Web site states that it specializes in neighborhood theaters that “deliver a great movie experience at lower prices than the major national chains.”

The Lake Mary, Fla., location lists current releases, including “All the King’s Men,” “The Departed” and “Jackass Number Two.” The $7 ticket price is discounted to $4.50 for seniors and children.

Interesting; this is the second current or former Trademark location to close in as many weeks. The other was in Rhode Island. I wonder if Trademark is in financial difficulty or if it just wants to concentrate on its holdings closer to its home base in Coral Gables, FL.

While not clarifying reasons for the theater’s closing once again, the LoHud article does shed light on the theater’s opening, saying, “The theater was not an original tenant at the 27-year-old mall, but it opened after just a few years. It was one of Yorktown’s two movie theaters until the Triangle Theater in Yorktown Heights closed in 1989.” That would confirm shoeshoe’s post above saying it opened in 1986.

BTW, the “Yorktown’s only theater” thing is a bit overblown, since the Cortlandt Town Center, while not in Yorktown, is only four miles away on Route 6.

Sorry to have to report that this theater is or soon will be no more (even though it closed a few years ago, it was still hidden behind panels). The mall got a permit to do a deconstruction of the theater space. At a public hearing to get approval to add some space and renovate the mall (finally), it was announced that they have a tenant for the theater space, but did not say who. The mall has really gone downhill since the movie theater closed, although the case could be made that it was already in the slide while the movie theater was open. The Cortlandt Town Center theater (mentioned above) is a new stadium style and much nicer.